Help We Group

Salone Microfinance Trust (SMT), a partner of Kiva in Makeni, northern Sierra Leone, is very please to present to you members of the “Help We” group. These are small-scale entrepreneurs who have come to SMT/Kiva lenders to seek a loan of 1,000,000 Sierra Leone leones (SLL) for each in order to invest in their businesses.

Jeneba S. is the leader of this group. Jeneba is 31 years old and married with four children: two in primary school and two in secondary school.

Jeneba sells palm oil, rice, margi (used to give sauce a sweet taste), etc., and has been doing this business for many years now. With the help of this loan, she will invest in her business by buying the aforementioned items in large quantities to add to her business.

Additional Information

About Salone Microfinance Trust (SMT)

Salone Microfinance Trust (SMT) is Kiva’s oldest field partner in Sierra Leone. SMT began operations in 2002 as a microcredit program of the NGO Child Fund Sierra Leone under a USAID program to assist the reintegration of ex combatants back into their communities. Today, SMT offers group, agricultural, individual and salary loans to micro-entrepreneurs through six branches and one sub-branch in rural, urban, and peri-urban areas. By providing small loans and other financial services, SMT empowers poor clients to generate more income to help their families, improve their wellbeing, and create a more vibrant private small-business sector in Sierra Leone.

This is a Group Loan

In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default.

Kiva's Field Partners typically feature one borrower from a group. The loan description, sector, and other attributes for a group loan profile are determined by the featured borrower's loan. The other members of the group are not required to use their loans for the same purpose.